Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. 3 John 2 Greetings Emmanuel Brinklow Church Family Already we are at the end of January and the new year is marching on. I am Dr. Robert V Sigh, the Health Ministries Director for 2018-2020. Each month, I would like to share a letter to you, expounding upon a biblical health principle and exploring the heart of God in giving us such a health restoring message to experience and to share. The first biblical health principle comes as a greeting from 3 John 2; Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. This is a greeting well known to us. Although, it is a greeting from the apostle John to a beloved elder, it is indeed God’s word to each of us. Through the precious blood of Jesus, we are God’s beloved. As the beloved of God, it is His top priority that we prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers. This is not an empty wish, for God can make all grace abound to us. He has the power to bring very word that proceed from his mouth into existence. However, it is expressed as a wish because it involves choice and with choice, not everyone will embrace all that God has for them. A Choice God has given us the freedom of choice to choose His priorities for our lives, or we can choose our own priorities. If we choose God’s way to prosperity and health, we must also choose His plan and follow His order. Notice that He says, “I wish above all things”. Above all things indicates this is His top priority for us. “That we prosper and be in health” is the object of his desire. Then he gives us the standard to know the kind of prosperity and health he desires for us. The standard is “even as our soul prospers”. Soul prosperity must necessarily come first since it is the standard to measure all other prosperity and health. God’s order is to start from the inside and work outward.
He heals the source of the stream and then let it’s purifying effect flow outward to the glory of God.The Way of the World The world also has a way to prosperity and health, but it starts from the outward and it ends up bringing glory to self. On the surface it has great promise, but beneath, it has a draining and degenerating effect. The world’s way constantly competes for our attention and consideration. But what happens when we turn from the world and focus on God, choose his way, and his order? We truly experience the genuine article that continuously refreshes and renews. Soul Prosperity The apostle John did not go into detail in defining soul prosperity. I assume he recognized Gaius understood what he meant as it was a living experience for him. However, for our benefit the apostle did describe in verses 3-6 what a prosperous soul does. He described Gaius as someone who was walking in the truth, doing a faithful work in whatever he accomplished for the brethren and strangers. Everything he did was motivated by love, a kind of love that was seen, felt and talked about. His service was not with eye service as men pleasers but as the servant of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart (Ephesians 6:6). Whatever he did, he did it heartily as to the Lord (Colossians 3:23). The True Riches for the Soul God wants to restore this kind of soul prosperity to each of us. For many years Jesus has been knocking on the door of our souls offering the true riches to make the soul completely prosperous. He speaks to us in a language that a church living in a materialistic world can understand and value. He counsels us to buy of him gold tried in the fire, and white raiment so that the shame of our nakedness does not appear, and eye salve that we may see (Revelations 3:18-20). The gold tried in the fire is His faith and love that was tried for 33 years and found to be pure and flawless. The white garment is his perfect righteousness, his right doing, his perfect obedience to the laws of God and the laws of his being. The anointing of the eyes with eye salve is the grace of God providing spiritual discernment. These riches in our souls will make us entirely successful in following God’s way to prosperity and health. His faith will give us an unquenchable faith that works by love, leadings us to believe in God’s counsels and to practice its health-giving principles. His righteousness will bring us in harmony with the laws of our being. His spiritual discernment will help us distinguish the true path to health from all the many voicing in the world claiming to be the way to prosperity and health. In 2018, I want to choose God’s way and His order to prosperity and health. Join me in this journey and let’s spread the good news to others alone the way. Robert V Sigh MD, MPH]]>